Rye & Spelt Grain Bread (Getreidebrot)

Total Time

3hrs25mins

Prep 25 mins

Cook 3 hrs

This my own recipe which is as a result of playing around in the kitchen. I'm trying not to eat too much wheat as it makes me bloat up & after a trip to Germany I fell in love with their heavy rye & vollkornbrot. This is my variation & is a quicker recipe (I was craving bread tonight!) as you don't need to make the starter the day before.
I used Allinson's dried active yeast which is for handbaking only.
Spelt is an ancient type of wheat which was popular during Roman times. Whilst it does have gluten, the structure is different to modern wheat so some gluten intolerant people are able to eat products made from spelt as the gluten is different to that found in modern wheat.
Finally, if you want to make this vegan you could easily substitute soy milk for the cows milk.

Directions

Mix the sugar & dried yeast together in a large bowl. Add the tepid water & let brew for 15 minutes.

Mix the milk & molasses together.

Heat a small frying pan on medium & gently heat the linseeds & oatmeal. Take off the heat once warmed through.

Add the milk & molasses to the yeast mixture & stir gently.

Put the flours in a bowl, along with the oatbran & salt. Add the milk & yeast mixture, and stir. The resulting mixture will be sticky.

Turn out onto a lightly floured bench & knead. You may need to add a little bit more rye flour, but don't add too much as the bread will be too dry. The dough will still feel a bit tacky. Knead for 5 minutes.

Gradually add the linseed & oatmeal mixture, kneading all the time. Total kneading time is about 10 minutes.

Cover the dough & let prove for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Pre heat the oven to 190 degrees Celscius. I also put my pizza stone in then as well.

Knock down gently & shape into two loaves. Put each loaf on a sheet of baking paper, cover & let prove until doubled, about 1 hour. Spelt tends to rise quickly.

Gently move the loaves onto the pizza stone & cook for about 40 minutes, or until the loaf sounds kind of hollow when tapped. You may have to cook them one at a time, it depends how big your loaves turn out.

The bread will be dense and quite chewy, and is great served with cream cheese, cottage cheese or just toasted.